TroyMidkiff

This is an OLD term referring to lung condition. Back before todays first line pulmonary antibiotics, like Ceftra, etc., pneumonias often spiralled out of control. The junk that would come out of peoples lungs in these situations was often referred to as 'pulmonary toilet', for it's literal similarity.. It eventually became a 'shortened' way of saying that a patient is going to need a lot of pulmonary rehab, which is suctioning, percussion, etc.. The term is archaic in several senses: 1. you really never see bad lungs like this anymore without a serious immuno-compromise, and 2., (as my instructor told me): pt's sometimes read their own charts, and it's not something that really has any place among proper medical descriptives. -Troy, Respiratory Therapy